Went to a
wonderful genealogy and family history
seminar on Saturday at Waihi. Felt very inspired by the message that it is
important to record family history to write it down. For though it may be
buildings and artifacts in the ground it is people that make the history. It is
their stories that have influence. The reasons for the location and a style of house being built, the " rubbish pits" that show the
type of utensils, crockery, clothing used for daily living.
On the way home we
stopped at a place which for many, many years has been a favorite - the Beach
Road Reserve playground at Whangamata. WELL!!! After nearly three years
ALL has been removed - the swings,
slides, concrete boats, the popular tyre playground equipment.
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| Relics of Beach Road Reserve Playground, Whangamata 17 September 2016 |
I say almost three years for it is that time span when first read in the local
newspaper, that the playground was to be upgraded - safety considerations amongst the reasons. Then, in December 2014,
resigned to the fact that physical structures were going to disappear, I wrote
the history of how the Beach Road Playground Reserve came about back in the
1970's. This in a blog http://partofpastnzhistory.blogspot.co.nz/2014/01/beach-road-reserve-playground-whangamata.html
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| Beach Road Reserve Playground Whangamata December 2014 |
The blog was an addition to the story in the book "
This and That" written in 2001. It
is thanks to the Whangamata Garden Club, a number of organisations and a large
number of volunteers who saw this beach resort's first children's playground come to fruition. At a funeral last year children shared the
joy of visiting this playground with their grandmother who wrote the very first
letter in 1970 asking for the Reserve to be designated and for a playground.
In further research over the last two days, I could not believe
what I was reading, written by TCDC ( our
council ). In their Whangamata
Community Board Plan 2014-2015 And indicative Direction for 2015-2025 in
relation to the said playground on page 16 the following :-
“Beach Road Reserve Development ($99,327) The Board
prioritises this project as
the Whangamata Beach Road Reserve playground is approximately 25 years old and is no longer fit for purpose due to component
deterioration, rust and share use.
"
Historic facts prove
that this written statement ( highlighted in red ) in their plan is not entirely accurate. It is the very reason that reinforces the need for recording the story or the history facts.
As a writer, local
historian and family history researcher I believe , as we also learned in the
Waihi Seminar, that it is very important to get down those family stories and
history correctly.
It is an account of " the way things were " and a record for future
generations. It is a record for Archaeologists in the future who may be
identifying the evidence of settlement beneath the ground.
It can provide for
the historian the " way things were." In the instance of the Beach
Road Reserve Playground, a story that reflects the
community and pioneers of this town who worked extremely hard at the time, to establish what
we all benefit from today – parks, reserves, clubs and organisations - in a
different era when the town was small and facilities did not exist. ( not even
a Marina back then and very few recreation boats in the harbour). Those early community people and pioneers had a vision for the future.
We have travelled
overseas and in New Zealand a lot - visiting what interests us - a botannical
gardens at Ballarat, Australia , begun over 150 years ago and still there with
the wonderful stories of how it began. The Botannic gardens at Christchurch, NZ
with stories of how those early European Settlers, had a vision and started
planting and designing. Along with in the garden, children's playgrounds.
 |
| plaque remembering curator George Longley, Ballarat Botannic Gardens, Australia 2012 - photo CR Ball |
 |
| Botannic Gardens, Christchurch NZ - photo CR Ball 2016 |
Very
old buildings, art galleries and museums
abound in England and Europe. ( Structures that a very lucrative tourism industry has
built on). Even an ancestor's house built in the seventeenth century -
admittedly has another use as a hotel now - but still there standing firmly.
Sometimes we have met other people in our journeys around the world, who have been to that place called Whangamata and have their stories of camping near the Beach Road Reserve Playground, stories of their children playing on the tyre playground equipment.
Sometimes we have met other people in our journeys around the world, who have been to that place called Whangamata and have their stories of camping near the Beach Road Reserve Playground, stories of their children playing on the tyre playground equipment.
It seems to me that
there has crept in to New Zealand that anything older than say thirty years
needs to be pulled down - whether it be buildings, playgrounds or other
structures. A modern attitude that is quick to write them off as being old.
This seems to have been strengthened by a changed Historic Places Act, the
recording of detail in Archaeological Diggings before a building, a subdivision
, a development, a motorway takes place. That it is okay to remove all trace of
what was there before and even the stories and written historical fact.
I think not, for that
is removing the very fabric of who we are and the things that make our history
and culture. I am pleased I recorded the story of the Beach Road Reserve
Playground in the book, " This and That" in 2001 and in a blog in 2014. I
shall continue to record in writing stories and history facts for future generations.
Yes I look with interest to see what rises up
out of the ashes of the relic remains of
dirt and soil from the old playground. I accept that physical structures such as swings, slides and tyre playground equipment have a life span and do need replacing. I hope to see other stories and historic
facts recorded for the new playground into future years. If others write that story or history down, then in another fifty years will be more on the essence of what the Beach Road Reserve Playground represents to many of us in the fabric of our history and culture.
 |
| Beach Road Reserve Playground , Whangamata - waiting for a new lease of life and new stories in the future - photo CR Ball 2016 |
Reference Source :
Whangamata Community Board Plan 2014-2015 And indicative Direction for 2015-2025 accessed 18/09/2016
This and That 2001 by E A Ball ( nee Stewart ) accessed 19/09/2016
This and That 2001 by E A Ball ( nee Stewart ) accessed 19/09/2016
http://partofpastnzhistory.blogspot.co.nz/2014/01/beach-road-reserve-playground-whangamata.html accessed 19/09/2016
